Well, I hope you are feeling better. You've gotten a lot of legal advice, so I'll focus on the accident. Closing your eyes was bad, but not because it was unmanly. The truth is that there is a lot you can do while you are in the air to affect how and where you land.

This is my famous, 'every bicyclist should take trampoline lessons so that they'll know how to control their body while in the air' rant. I took them in college and there have been several times where knowing what to do and doing it, has made the situation much better. This includes turning myself 90 degrees while falling one time so that instead of falling off a cliff, I landed parallel to the edge. Besides trampoline is fun!